This tutorial is designed to acquaint students with contemporary astrophysical
research, through a combination of seminars on current topics during the
fall term, and a research project to be completed during the spring term.

Meetings will be held at Moors 2, at North House every Tuesday
during the fall semester. Dinner with the speaker will be at 6 PM. The after-dinner
seminar will be held in the same room at 7 PM each week, and should end
by about 8:30 P.M. Students will be expected to attend the seminars and
participate actively in discussion, as well as do preparatory reading, which
will be assigned by each speaker.

During the fall term, students are expected to "scout out"
suitable topics and research supervisors for their spring research projects,
by meeting with staff of the Center for Astrophysics, and carry out background
reading for their project. The spring term will be devoted to work on the
student's research project, with frequent consultations with their research
supervisor, and the AY 98 professor. Upon completion of the research papers,
a day will be devoted to oral presentations of results for all of the members
of the Center for Astrophysics.

AY 98hf Research Schedule

October 28

1-page report due about checking into research with CfA staff. Please
make an appointment to come see me soon after this, to discuss this
report.

November 25

By now you should have selected a research topic and supervisor. Please
submit a 1-page report on these activities, including a short description
of the project you plan to pursue.

December 16

A research plan should be submitted, signed, and approved by your
supervisor. This should spell out the problem to be tackled, list the basic
issues to be addressed, describe a plan of attack and a timetable for specific
goals, and list the references to be read. You will be asked to present
a 5-minute talk to the class on this day, summarizing your selected
research problem.

Please make an appointment to come see me this week to discuss your
progress. Please bring as much "evidence" of what you've done
as you like. Your background reading should be fully finished by now, and
your research should be fully underway.

March 31

Basic research activities, whether observational or theoretical, should
be finished. You should be ready to write up your project when you return
from Spring Break. A preliminary abstract and outline of your paper
are due on this date.

April 21

First draft of your paper should be submitted to your research supervisor
for comments and suggestions on or before this date.

Week of

April 27-May 1

20-minute presentation of your research paper to members of the CfA

Week of May 4-8

Final revisions of research paper, incorporating comments from presentation.

May 11

Final deadline. Four copies of your paper should be submitted to
the Department office . They will be distributed to: (1) research supervisor;
(2) reader; (3) AY 98 professor; and (4) CfA Library. No fancy binders are
necessary!

Note: This is a research-oriented course. The grades for the course
will be based primarily on the final presentations and papers. However,
if a student is delinquent in handing in the short progress reports, etc.,
this will also be taken into account. There will be no extensions given
for the final paper, barring very, very "extenuating circumstances."